McCarthy wins with a charge at the end
17 and a critical up-and-down at the finishing hole allowed McCarthy, a full-time member of the Web.com Tour, to catch and pass former threetime champ David Bradshaw, who had led the tournament for 70 holes after an openinground63.
McCarthy’s final-round 69 allowed him to finish at 5-under 275, one shot clear of Bradshaw (72) and three better than defending champ T.J. Howe (72). They were the only players to finish under par in the72-hole event.
“With everything that’s happened the last few days, I couldn’t ask for a better result,” McCarthy said. “I really didn’t expect it when I started out without my clubs and clothes.”
After shooting 1-under 139 for the first two rounds using borrowed clubs, McCarthy was able to get his own sticks back for the final two rounds. The result: the largest check of McCarthy’s professional career. He had never won more than $28,000 in a tournament in two years on the Web.com Tour.
McCarthy elected not to enter this week’s Lincoln Land Championship on the Web.com Tour because he wanted to play at the Field Club to pay back Fuhrer for giving him a chance to play in his $200,000 tournament five yearsago.
“It proved to be a good decision,” McCarthy said. It started to look even better at the par-4 ninth hole, right after he had narrowed Bradshaw’s lead to one with a 12foot birdie at No. 8. And especially after Bradshaw’s tee shot came to rest a foot from a tree on a grassy hillside in the right rough.
But, from the left side of the fairway, McCarthy spun his approach back off the green at the418-yard hole and made bogey. Meantime, Bradshaw punched a wedge from 135 yards to 4 feet and made an unexpected birdie, creating a two-shot swing that appeared unlikely moments earlier. Bradshaw’s lead was back to three.
“I was in the driver’s seat,” said Bradshaw, who won the tournament in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
But, just when it appeared Brad shaw might win the tournament for a record-tying fourth time, McCarthy’s putter came alive.
After Bradshaw threeputted for bogey at the par-3 14th to reduce his lead to two, McCarthy made a 12-footer for birdie at the picturesque 202yard 16th to get within one. Then, after hitting his tee shot in the right rough at the par-4 17th, McCarthy lofted a 9-iron overa tree to 15 feet.
When he made the birdie putt and Bradshaw three putted again, this time from 45 feet, McCarthy had a one-shot lead — the first time someone other than Bradshaw was at the top of the leader board since the tournament began.
“I played a bad back nine and he played a great one,” Bradshaw said. “Those birdie putts on 16 and 17 were ridiculous.The guy can roll the rock. That’s why he’s on the Web.comTour.”
McCarthy has made 11 of 13 cuts with three top-6 finishes this season on the Web.com Tour. He ranks 34th on the money list and needs to move up nine spots to earn status on the PGA Tour in 2019.
It would be nice, he joked, if the $40,000 he won at the Field Club could be applied to his official earnings on the Web.com Tour. But what would be good, he said, is if some of the big putts he made in the stretch could carry over tothe Webcom Tour.
“That’s been a bit of the story all year on the Web tour,” McCarthy said. “I hit it great, a lot like I did today, but I just burn a lot of edges and lip-out putts. I thought today was going to be another chapter in the book of burning edges and what could have been. But those putts went in atthe right time.”